Printing apparatus, printing apparatus control method, and program

ABSTRACT

A printing apparatus includes a receiving unit which receives print data, an operating unit which receives a print instruction from a user, a display unit which displays a password entry screen for receiving a password entry from a user, and a printing unit which receives a print instruction from a user through the operating unit and prints print data without accepting a password through a password entry screen if a password added to the print data is matched with a fixed password and print data to be printed if a print instruction from a user is received through the operating unit, if the password added to the print data is matched with the fixed password, and if the password received through a password entry screen is matched with the password added to the print data.

The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 14/975,580, filed Dec. 18, 2015, entitled “PRINTING APPARATUS,PRINTING APPARATUS CONTROL METHOD, AND PROGRAM”, which is a continuationof U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/536,436, filed Nov. 7, 2014, nowU.S. Pat. No. 9,244,635, entitled “PRINTING APPARATUS, PRINTINGAPPARATUS CONTROL METHOD, AND PROGRAM”, which is a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 13/897,164, filed May 17, 2013, now U.S.Pat. No. 8,908,203, entitled “PRINTING APPARATUS, PRINTING APPARATUSCONTROL METHOD, AND PROGRAM”, the content of which each application isexpressly incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. Further, thepresent application claims the benefit of Japanese Patent ApplicationNo. 2012-115760 filed May 21, 2012, which is hereby incorporated byreference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to printing apparatuses which print datato be printed (which sometimes will be called print data) received froman external device.

Description of the Related Art

A system has generally been known which temporarily stores (or reserves)print data transmitted from an external device such as a personalcomputer in a printing apparatus and prints it in response to apredetermined operation performed by a user on a control panel of theprinting apparatus. Such a system is generally called a reservationprinting system.

In a reservation printing system, a printing apparatus is shared over anetwork because a user may enter a password on an operation screenand/or a printed product is output in response to a user authentication,for example, and is particularly effective for preventing confidentialprinted product from being viewed by other people.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-76028 discloses a system in which apersonal computer adds a password to print job and transmits it to aprinting apparatus which then prints it in response to an entry of apassword matched with the password added to the print job through acontrol panel of the printing apparatus.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a printing apparatus which saves user'stime and efforts for executing a password-protected print job.

A printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present inventionincludes a receiving unit which receives print data, a storage unitwhich stores the print data if a password is added to the print data, anoperating unit which receives a print instruction from a user, a displayunit which displays a password entry screen for receiving a passwordentry from a user, and a printing unit which prints the print datawithout receiving a password from a user through the password entryscreen if the operating unit receives a print instruction from a userand if the password added to the print data is matched with apredetermined password and prints the print data if a password receivedthrough the password entry screen is matched with the password added tothe print data, if the operating unit receives a print instruction froma user and if the password added to the print data is not matched withthe predetermined password.

Further features of the present invention will become apparent from thefollowing description of exemplary embodiments with reference to theattached drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an overall diagram of a network system including amultifunction peripheral equipment that is an example of a printingapparatus and a PC that is an example of an external device.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating processing of transmitting a printjob to be executed in a PC.

FIGS. 3A-B illustrate an example of a setting screen of a printer driverin a PC.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating processing of receiving a print jobto be executed in a multifunction peripheral equipment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart describing an operation for executing apassword-protected printing job.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating log-in processing to be executed in amultifunction peripheral equipment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating processing of printing to be executedin a multifunction peripheral equipment.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating processing of stopping printing to beexecuted in a multifunction peripheral equipment.

FIG. 9 is a job list of password-protected printing jobs.

FIG. 10 is a screen example for a password entry omission setting to bedefined in a multifunction peripheral equipment.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart describing printing processing to be executedaccording to a second embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart describing processing of transmitting a print-jobaccording to a third embodiment.

FIG. 13 is an example of a setting screen for a printer driver accordingto the third embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart describing processing of receiving a print jobaccording to the third embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart describing a flow of processing of printingaccording to the third embodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below withreference to drawings.

First of all, terms and phrases for describing embodiments will bedefined.

In embodiments, a print job containing print data and a password will becalled a “password-protected printing job”. A password-protectedprinting job in principle starts outputting a printed production on thebasis of a proper password entered through an operating unit of amultifunction peripheral equipment. Such print protection with apassword is for keeping security of the print. A reservation printingfunction using a password-protected printing job will be called a“password-protected reservation printing function”.

According to embodiments, a password contained in a print job will becalled a “job password”. A job password is set for a print job as aunique password to the print job.

According to embodiments, a unique password to a multifunctionperipheral equipment will be called a “fixed password”. A fixed passwordis prestored in a hard disk in a multifunction peripheral equipment.Such a fixed password will be described in detail below.

According to embodiments, a password to be used for logging in amultifunction peripheral equipment by a user will be called a “log-inpassword”.

According to embodiments, in order to implement the password-protectedreservation printing function, print data is reserved in a storagedevice such as a hard disk in a printing apparatus, for example.However, alternatively, print data may be reserved in a print serverinstead of a storage device in a printing apparatus.

First Embodiment

FIG. 1 is an overall diagram of a network system including a digitalmultifunction peripheral equipment (hereinafter, simply called a“multifunction peripheral equipment”) 1000 and a personal computer(hereinafter, simply called a PC) 2000. In the network system in FIG. 1,the multifunction peripheral equipment 1000 and the PC 2000 areconnected communicably with each other over a network 101.

A plurality of multifunction peripheral equipments and/or PCs, notillustrated in FIG. 1, are connected to the network 101 through relaydevices such as a switching hub and/or a router. The network system inFIG. 1 may be connected to another network through a router, notillustrated, connected to the network 101.

A unique IP address and a host name are given to each of themultifunction peripheral equipment 1000 and PC 2000. A domain nameindicative of the position on the Internet is further given to thenetwork system in FIG. 1.

According to this embodiment, a multifunction peripheral equipment willbe described as an example of a printing apparatus. However, theprinting apparatus may not necessarily be a multifunction peripheralequipment but a single function peripheral (SFP) as far as it supportsthe password-protected reservation printing function.

According to this embodiment, a personal computer (PC) will be describedas an example of an external device (or information processingapparatus). However, it may not necessarily be a personal computer butan apparatus such as a shared desktop computer, a server computer, or amobile terminal.

Next, a hardware configuration of the multifunction peripheral equipment1000 will be described.

A control unit 200 connects a scanner 201 that is an image input deviceand a printer 202 that is image output device. The control unit 200further inputs/outputs information to/from an external device byconnecting to the network 101 or a public line 204.

A CPU 205 is a processor which generally controls the multifunctionperipheral equipment 1000. A RAM 206 is a system work memory to be usedby the CPU 205 for operation and also functions as memory fortemporarily storing image data. A ROM 207 is a boot ROM and stores aboot program for the system. An HDD 208 is a hard disk drive and maystore system software, an application, and image data. A program forexecuting a flowchart which will be described below according to thisembodiment is also stored in the HDD 208. A program stored in the HDD208 is loaded to the RAM 206 and is executed by the CPU 205.

Steps on flowcharts of this embodiment are executed by the CPU 205.However, other processors than the CPU 205 may execute the steps onflowcharts according to the embodiment, the CPU 205 may execute thesteps in conjunction with other processors.

An operating unit interface 209 connects to an operating unit 210 havinga liquid crystal touch panel and output image data to be displayed onthe operating unit 210 to the operating unit 210. The operating unitinterface 209 plays a role of informing the CPU 205 of information inputby a system user (user) through the operating unit 210. A networkinterface 211 is connected to the network 101 and may input/outputinformation to/from the PC 2000, for example. A MODEM 212 is connectedto the public line 204 and may convert a digital signal to an analogsignal. An SRAM 213 is a non-volatile recording medium which may operateat high speed. An RTC 214 is a real time clock and performs processingof keeping counting the current time even when power is not supplied tothe control unit 200. These components are arranged on a system bus 215.

An image Bus I/F 216 is a bus bridge which is connected to the systembus 215 and an image bus 217 which transfers image data at high speedand converts a data structure. An image bus 217 includes a PCI bus or anIEEE1394. The following components are arranged on the image bus 217.

An RIP unit 218 is a raster image processor and expands PDL code to abitmap image. A device I/F unit 219 connects the scanner 201 and/orprinter 202 and the control unit 200 and performssynchronous/asynchronous conversion on image data. The scanner imageprocessing unit 220 may correct, process, and/or edit input image data.The printer image processing unit 221 performs printer correction andresolution conversion on printed output image data. An encryptingprocessing unit 222 performs processing of encrypting input datacontaining image data. A decoding processing unit 223 performsprocessing of decrypting encrypted data.

Next, a hardware configuration of the PC 2000 will be described. The PC2000 has a CPU 26, a main memory 27, a disk 21, a PC operating unit 23,PC communication unit 25, and a PC display unit 24. The CPU 26 is aprocessor which controls an operation of the PC 2000. The CPU 26 loads aprogram stored in the disk 21 to the main memory 27 and executescorresponding processing. The disk 21 may store a program such as anoperating system and/or a document creation application. The disk 21 mayfurther store a printer driver program (hereinafter, simply called aprinter driver) 22 corresponding to the multifunction peripheralequipment 1000.

The PC communication unit 25 transmits and receives information to andfrom another apparatus connected to the network 101. The PC operatingunit 23 may be a mouse or a keyboard, for example, and function as aninput device which receives an input from a user. The PC display unit 24may be a liquid crystal display, for example, and the CPU 26 functionsas an output device which outputs processed data.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart describing processing of transmitting apassword-protected printing job from the PC 2000 to the multifunctionperipheral equipment 1000. The steps on the flowchart in FIG. 2 are tobe executed by the CPU 26.

First in step S2001 (“step” will be omitted in the followingdescription), the PC 2000 receives an instruction to print in themultifunction peripheral equipment 1000 from a user through the PCoperating unit 23. In response to the instruction, the CPU 26 starts theprinter driver 22 corresponding to the multifunction peripheralequipment 1000 and displays a print setting screen 0301 as illustratedin FIG. 3A on the PC display unit 24.

FIG. 3A illustrates an example of a screen to be displayed by theprinter driver 22 in S2001. The print setting screen 0301 in FIG. 3Adisplays a check box 0302, an OK button 0303, and a cancel button 0304for setting whether password-protected printing is to be validated ornot.

If the check box 0302 is checked, a job password is added to the printjob and is transmitted to the multifunction peripheral equipment 1000.On the print setting screen 0301, print settings including a sheet size,the number of copies and the necessity of stamp may be defined, and aprint job including the print settings defined on the print settingscreen 0301 is generated. In the example in FIG. 3A, print settings aredefined in which the password-protected printing is valid, and printsheet size is A4, the number of copies is 1, and no stamp is necessary.

Next in S2002, the printer driver 22 receives an operation by a user onthe print setting screen 0301 and writes print settings to a RAM (notillustrated) in the PC 2000. In response to the detection of the pressof the OK button 0303 indicating that the settings for the print jobhave been defined, the processing moves to S2004.

In S2004, the printer driver 22 determines whether a password-protectedprinting job is to be generated on the basis of the settings received inS2002 or not.

If it is determined that the password-protected printing job is to begenerated, the printer driver 22 in S2006 displays a user name andpassword entry screen illustrated in FIG. 3B on the PC display unit 24and receives a user name and a password from a user. On the other hand,if it is determined that the password-protected printing job is not tobe generated (that is, a normal print job is to be generated), theprinter driver 22 in S2008 generates a print job in accordance with thedefined print settings and transmits the print job to the multifunctionperipheral equipment 1000.

FIG. 3B illustrates a user name/password entry screen 0321 to bedisplayed in S2006. On the screen illustrated in FIG. 3B, a user entersa user name to a user name entry form 0322 and enters a job password toa password entry form 0323. The entered user name and job password areadded to the print job which is then transmitted to the multifunctionperipheral equipment 1000. Note that because a password-protectedprinting job to be transmitted from the PC 2000 to the multifunctionperipheral equipment 1000 contains a password, it may not be transmittedin plain text. In order to prevent eavesdropping, encryption processingmay be performed on the job password entered by a user or a hush valuecalculated from a job password may be transmitted instead of the jobpassword.

A user name to be entered to the user name entry form 0322 is anidentifier with which a print job owner is identifiable. A user name isused later when a user logging in the multifunction peripheral equipment1000 is compared with a job owner (however, it is not used for thecomparison if the user is not authenticated in the multifunctionperipheral equipment 1000). Notably, a user name may be changed asrequired on the screen illustrated in FIG. 3B. A user name defined as aninitial value in the

PC 2000 is preset on the screen illustrated in FIG. 3B.

A job password to be entered to the password entry form 0323 isinformation to be requested later for starting printing in themultifunction peripheral equipment 1000. In other words, a print job towhich a job password has been added (password-protected printing job) isreserved having a print standby state in the multifunction peripheralequipment 1000 and is started to print in response to entry of the jobpassword (job password entered by a user in FIG. 3B) through theoperating unit 210. Thus, only the person or people who knows or knowthe job password added to a print job may permit the password-protectedprinting job to output its printed product, which may protect theprinted product from eavesdropping by a person who should not know thejob password and maintain security robustly.

However, in order to execute a password-protected printing job, a usermay be prompted to enter a job password in PC 2000 and also to enter thejob password in the multifunction peripheral equipment 1000. A user maybe required to enter a password twice, taking time and labor, while itssecurity may be maintained. According to this embodiment, after a fixedpassword registered with the multifunction peripheral equipment 1000 isentered to the password entry form 0323 on the screen illustrated inFIG. 3B, the password may not be entered again in the multifunctionperipheral equipment 1000. This part will be described below in moredetail.

Referring back to FIG. 2, in S2006, the printer driver 22 receives auser name and a job password entered by a user through the PC operatingunit 23. Here, the user name and job password entered through the PCoperating unit are displayed on the user name entry form 0322 andpassword entry form 0323 illustrated in FIG. 3B. The PC operating unit23 receives a press of a password-protected printing job settingcomplete button 0324 by a user, and the processing moves to S2007.

In S2007, the printer driver 22 generates a print job in which a domainname of the PC 2000, a user name and a job password are added to data tobe printed as a password-protected printing job.

Note that the user name added to the print job generated in S2007 is tobe used for a comparison between a user logging in the multifunctionperipheral equipment 1000 and an owner of the job. The job password isused for starting printing in the multifunction peripheral equipment1000. The domain name is used for determining whether the PC 2000 andthe multifunction peripheral equipment 1000 belong to a same domain ornot.

The processing of transmitting a print job from the printer driver 22 inthe PC 2000 to the multifunction peripheral equipment 1000 has beendescribed.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart describing a series of operations when themultifunction peripheral equipment 1000 receives a print job. The stepson the flowchart in FIG. 4 are implemented by execution by the CPU 205of a program loaded from the HDD 208 to the RAM 206. The processing onthe flowchart in FIG. 4 is automatically started in response toreception of a print job from the PC 2000 or another PC, notillustrated.

In S4001, the CPU 205 receives a print job transmitted from the PC 2000,for example, through the network interface 211 and extracts print dataand print settings from the received print job. The CPU 205 transfersthe extracted print data to the RIP unit 218. The RIP unit 218decompresses the received print data to a bitmap image and stores it inthe HDD 208.

In S4002, the CPU 205 determines whether the received print job is apassword-protected printing job or not from the print settings extractedin S4001. More specifically, the determination may be implemented bydetermining whether the password-protected printing job contains a jobpassword or not. If it is determined that the received print job is apassword-protected printing job, the processing moves to S4003. InS4003, the CPU 205 stores the decompressed bitmap image in the RIP unit218 in association with the print standby status in the HDD 208 (S4003).The bitmap image data stored in S4003 is not output to the printer 202until the comparison between the job password and a password enteredthrough the operating unit 210. In other words, the receivedpassword-protected printing job is reserved here without printing.Further in S4003, the domain name, user name and job password containedin the print settings are managed in association with the bitmap imagedata.

If it is determined in S4002 that the job is not a password-protectedprinting job (that is, if it is a normal print job), the CPU 205 outputsthe bitmap image decompressed in the RIP unit 218 to the printer 202. Inresponse thereto, the printer 202 prints the image based on the receivedbitmap image data on a print sheet (S4004).

This is a series of operations to be performed when the multifunctionperipheral equipment 1000 receives a print job.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for executing a password-protected printing jobreserved in S4003. The steps described on the flowchart in FIG. 5 areimplemented by execution by the CPU 205 of a program loaded from the HDD208 to the RAM 206, like FIG. 4.

In S5001, the CPU 205 acquires a set value for the multifunctionperipheral equipment 1000 stored in the SRAM 213 and determines whethera user authentication is to be performed or not on the basis of theacquired set value. In this embodiment, a set value indicating whether auser authentication is to be validated or not is read from the HDD 208upon start of the multifunction peripheral equipment 1000 and is storedin the SRAM 213. In S5001, whether a user authentication is to beperformed or not is determined on the basis of the set value read fromthe SRAM 213. It is assumed that a setting regarding whether a userauthentication is to be validated or not and/or user authenticationinformation to be used for validating a user authentication areregistered in advance with the multifunction peripheral equipment 1000by a system manager, for example. Though it has been described that thesetting is stored in the SRAM 213 upon start in S5001, it may be storedin the SRAM 213 upon first access instead of the start.

If it is determined in S5001 to perform a user authentication, theprocessing moves to S5002 where log-in processing is performed. Thelog-in processing will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 6.When a user logs in the multifunction peripheral equipment 1000 for thelog-in processing, information on the log in user is written to the RAM206, and the processing moves to S5004. On the other hand, if it isdetermined in S5001 not to perform a user authentication, the log-inprocessing in S5002 is omitted, and the processing moves to S5004.

In S5004, the CPU 205 acquires a set value stored in SRAM 213 indicatingthat a user authentication has been performed, and the multifunctionperipheral equipment 1000 determines whether a user authentication hasbeen performed or not. In other words, if the set value acquired fromthe SRAM 213 indicates that a user authentication has been performed,YES is determined in S5004. On the other hand, if the set value acquiredfrom the SRAM 213 indicates that a user authentication has not beenperformed, NO is determined in S5004.

If it is determined in S5004 that a user authentication has not beenperformed, the processing moves to S5007 where a job list of allpassword-protected printing jobs managed having a print standby statusis displayed on the operating unit 210.

If it is determined in S5004 that a user authentication has beenperformed, the processing moves to S5005. In S5005, the CPU 205determines whether the domain name is to be included in the displaycondition on the job list or not. The determination is performed on thebasis of the set value stored in the SRAM 213. It is assumed that a setvalue indicating whether a domain name is included in a displaycondition on a job list or not, which is used for the determinationprocessing in S5005 is also registered in advance with the multifunctionperipheral equipment 1000 by a system manager, for example, like a setvalue to be used for the processing in S5001.

If YES is determined in S5005, the processing moves to S5006. In S5006,the CPU 205 acquire a user name of the log-in user from the RAM 206 andacquire a domain name and a user name of a password-protected printingjob managed having a print standby status from the print settings of thereceived print job. When the log-in processing completes, a log-incontext containing a user name by which a log-in user is identifiable iswritten to the RAM 206, which will be described below in detail withreference to FIG. 6. The CPU 205 identifies the log-in user on the basisof the log-in context written to the RAM 206. In S5006, the CPU 205displays on the operating unit 210 a job list of a password-protectedprinting job under a user name matched with the user name of the log-inuser, which is a password-protected printing job transmitted from a PC(such as the PC 2000) belonging to a same domain as the multifunctionperipheral equipment 1000. Whether a given password-protected printingjob has been transmitted from a PC belonging to a same domain or not isdetermined through a comparison between a domain name of a networksystem to which the multifunction peripheral equipment 1000 belongs anda domain name contained in the password-protected printing job.

If NO is determined in S5005, the processing moves to S5008 where theCPU 205 acquires a user name of the log-in user from the RAM 206 anduser names of password-protected printing jobs managed having a printstandby status. The CPU 205 displays on the operating unit 210 a joblist of password-protected printing jobs under a user name matched withthe acquired user name of the log-in user. In other words, a list of allprint jobs owned by the log-in user is displayed.

S5006 and S5008 are different in that whether a list of jobs transmittedfrom a PC belonging to a different domain from that of the multifunctionperipheral equipment 1000 is displayed or not. In other words, in S5008,a print job under one user name is transmitted from a plurality ofdifferent domains.

For example, a case will be considered where the multifunctionperipheral equipment 1000 and the PC 2000 belongs to a domain X andanother PC belongs to a domain Y (which is a different domain from thatof the multifunction peripheral equipment 1000). In this case, apassword protected print job under a user name “User 1” is transmittedfrom the PC 2000 and the other PC. When a user with the user name “User1” logs in the multifunction peripheral equipment 1000, a print jobunder the “User 1” transmitted from the PC 2000 is displayed in S5006.In S5008, a print job transmitted from the PC 2000 and a print jobtransmitted from the other PC are displayed.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example of the job list displayed in S5006 orS5008. A print job list 9002 is a list of password-protected printingjobs owned by the log-in user. A print button 9003 is used to instructto start printing a selected print job. A stop button 9004 is used tocancel printing of a selected print job.

The print job list 9002 displays print job identification informationincluding whether a print job has been selected or not, serial number,received time of a print job, print job name, a user name of a user whohas entered a print job (that is, the owner of a print job), a status ofthe job, etc.

The job type to be displayed in the print job list 9002 ispassword-protected printing job only, but other print job (that is,normal print job) than the password-protected printing job may bedisplayed simultaneously.

In S5010, a selection of a password-protected printing job to beoperated from the print job list 9002 displayed in S5006, S5007 or S5008is received. If a password-protected printing job is selected, aselection check box 9005 corresponding to the selected job is checkedand the job has a selected state, which enables the stop button 9004 andprint button 9003. In S5010, the CPU 205 further receives an operationon the stop button 9004 or the print button 9003 through the operatingunit 210. For example, a user may instruct printing the selectedpassword-protected printing job by pressing the print button 9003. Onthe other hand, in order to stop the execution of a print job, a usermay cancel the printing by pressing the stop button 9004. In S5010,whether the received instruction is “print” or “stop” is determined. If“print” is determined, the method moves to password comparisonprocessing (S5011). On the other hand, if “stop” is determined, themethod moves to stop processing (S5012). The password comparisonprocessing will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 7, and thestop processing will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 8.

The general operations to be performed when the operating unit 210 ofthe multifunction peripheral equipment 1000 receives a user operationhave been described.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart describing the log-in processing executed in S5002in FIG. 5 in details.

In S6001, the CPU 205 displays a log-in screen on the operating unit 210and receives a user name and a log-in password through the log-in screenin S6002. The entered user name and log-in password are written to theRAM 206 through the operating unit interface 209.

In S6004, the CPU 205 performs a user authentication on the basis of theuser name and log-in password received in S6002. If the authenticationis successful, the log in to the multifunction peripheral equipment 1000is permitted. The processing then moves to S6005. On the other hand, ifthe authentication fails, the CPU 205 display an error screen (notillustrated) on the operating unit 210 and prohibits the use of themultifunction peripheral equipment 1000. The processing returns toS6001.

In S6006, the CPU 205 stores a log-in context containing the user namereceived in S6002 in the RAM 206, and the log-in processing ends. Thelog-in context contains, in addition to a user name, information such asa log-in time, expiration date, and user's authority information (ageneral user or a manager). A set value indicating that a user has beenauthenticated is written to the SRAM 213. Here the set value written tothe SRAM 213 is referred when the determining processing in S5004 inFIG. 5 is performed.

The log-in processing has been described above in detail.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart describing operations that is a principalobjective of this embodiment, which corresponds to the passwordcomparison processing in S5011 in FIG. 5.

In S7001, the CPU 205 acquires a job password of a password-protectedprinting job instructed to print from the HDD 208.

Next in S7002, the CPU 205 acquires a password entry omission setting(see FIG. 10) for the multifunction peripheral equipment 1000 from theSRAM 213. If the password entry omission setting acquired from the SRAM213 is valid, the processing moves to S7003. On the other hand, if theset value acquired from the SRAM 213 is invalid, the processing moves toS7003. If the password entry omission setting is valid and if the jobpassword contained in a print job is matched with a corresponding fixedpassword, the password entry will be omitted.

The set value described here may be preset by a system manager on asetting screen 10001 illustrated in FIG. 10. FIG. 10 illustrates ascreen for validating or invalidating the password entry omissionsetting, which is to be displayed on the operating unit 210. If a validbutton 10002 or an invalid button 10003 is selected on the settingscreen 10001 and an OK button 10004 is selected by a system manager, forexample, the CPU 205 writes a set value indicating whether the passwordentry omission setting is to be validated or not to the SRAM 213.According to this embodiment, the fixed password to be used forindicating that the password entry omission setting is valid is afixedly predetermined password upon shipment of the multifunctionperipheral equipment 1000. However, the fixed password may be determinedby a system manager when the valid button 10002 is selected and the OKbutton 10004 is selected, instead of at the time of shipment. The fixedpassword may be determined on the basis of a serial number and/or a MACaddress that is unique to an apparatus, instead of being determined by asystem manager. A fixed password is distributed on a paper medium or inother communication means (such as an electronic mail) to an authorizeduser who frequently uses the multifunction peripheral equipment 1000 toprotect it from unauthorized users. A fixed password is stored in theHDD 208.

Referring back to FIG. 7, in S7002, the CPU 205 determines whether thepassword entry omission setting defined on the setting screen 10001 inFIG. 10 shows a valid value or not. If it is determined as having avalid value, the CPU 205 acquires a fixed password from the HDD 208 andstores it in the SRAM 213 (S7003).

On the other hand, if it is determined in S7002 that the password entryomission setting shows an invalid value, the CPU 205 displays a passwordentry screen (not illustrated) on the operating unit 210 and prompts auser to enter a password (S7006). If a password is received from a useron the password entry screen, the processing moves to S7008.

In S7005, the CPU 205 compares the fixed password for the obtainedmultifunction peripheral equipment 1000 and the job password for thepassword-protected printing job. If the CPU 205 determines that thefixed password for the multifunction peripheral equipment 1000 and thejob password for the password-protected printing job are matched (YES inS7005), the CPU 205 executes printing the password-protected printingjob (S7009). In other words, the password-protected printing job isexecuted without requiring a user to enter a password.

If it is determined in S7005 that the job password for thepassword-protected printing job and the fixed password are not matched,the CPU 205 displays the password entry screen (not illustrated) on theoperating unit 210 and prompts a user to enter a password (S7006).

In S7008, the CPU 205 compares the password entered by a user throughthe password entry screen displayed on the operating unit 210 and thejob password for the password-protected printing job.

In S7008, if the CPU 205 determines that the password entered by a useris matched with the job password for the password-protected printingjob, the CPU 205 executes printing the password-protected printing job(S7009). In other words, as soon as the printer 202 gets ready forprinting, the CPU 205 outputs bitmap image data to the printer 202 whichthan prints the image on a print sheet.

If it is determined in S7008 that the password entered by a user is notmatched with the job password for the password-protected printing job,the CPU 205 displays an error screen (not illustrated) on the operatingunit 210 (S7010), and the processing ends.

The operations of the password comparison processing has been describedabove.

Next, processing of stopping a password-protected printing job will bedescribed with reference to the flowchart in FIG. 8.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart describing the stop processing in S5012 in FIG. 5.

First, in S8001, the CPU 205 deletes data (bitmap image data) on apassword-protected printing job instructed to stop from the HDD 208.Next, in S8002, the CPU 205 deletes the password-protected printing jobselected to stop from the print job list 9002 displayed on the operatingunit 210, and the processing on the flowchart in FIG. 8 ends.

The operations according to the first embodiment have been described.According to the first embodiment, a user who knows a fixed password mayenter the fixed password (alternative to a job password) on a printsetting screen of a printer driver of a PC so that he/or she can bereleased from time and labor for entering the password again to amultifunction peripheral equipment. In other words, while a passwordmust be entered at least 2 twice in the past, a user who knows a fixedpassword may be required to enter the password only once.

Furthermore, according to the first embodiment, a user who does not knowa fixed password may be enter a password that is not the fixed passwordto a PC 2000 to display a password entry screen like a method in thepast to execute a password-protected printing job. In other words, apassword to be entered or displayed on the password entry form 0323 maybe either fixed password or job password. This embodiment may further becharacterized in that a plurality of different kinds of password may beentered on one form on one screen.

Furthermore, according to the first embodiment, even a user who has notbeen authenticated may enter a print job by giving it a password uniqueto a corresponding printing apparatus to implement reservation printingwhile security is maintained. This is particularly effective whensetting a unique password for each print job is complicated.

Furthermore, according to the first embodiment, an operation whichrequires password entry and an operation which allows omission ofpassword entry may be selectively performed by a multifunctionperipheral equipment on the basis of the set value defined on thesetting screen 10001 in FIG. 10. Thus, properly, for example, the entryof a password is required in an environment where unspecified users usea multifunction peripheral equipment, and the password entry may beomitted in an environment where only specified users use themultifunction peripheral equipment.

According to this embodiment, only one fixed password is available forthe multifunction peripheral equipment 1000. However, a plurality offixed passwords may be registered instead of one fixed password.Applications may be possible in which a fixed password is registered foreach user managed by the multifunction peripheral equipment 1000. Inthis case, a password for a password-protected printing job instructedto print and a fixed password of a log-in user are automaticallycompared. In this manner, the number of fixed password is notparticularly limited.

According to this embodiment, the password comparison processing (seeFIG. 7) is executed when printing is instructed. However, it may beperformed when print data is received from the PC 2000 instead of thetime when printing is instructed. In other words, in S4002, whetherprint data contains a fixed password or a password unique to a job maybe determined. In this case, information indicating either print jobcontaining a fixed password or a print job containing a password uniqueto a job may be prestored in the multifunction peripheral equipment 1000in association with print data, and whether password entry is to beomitted or be required may be determined on the basis of theinformation.

Second Embodiment

Next, a second embodiment will be described.

According to the first embodiment, the multifunction peripheralequipment 1000 performs a printing operation in accordance with a resultof a comparison between a fixed password and a job password for apassword-protected printing job if the password entry omission settingis valid whether or not the multifunction peripheral equipment 1000performs a user authentication. However, according to the firstembodiment, if the multifunction peripheral equipment 1000 does notperform a user authentication, a user who will use the multifunctionperipheral equipment is not identifiable. Therefore, a list of all printjobs is displayed (see S5007). Therefore, a user who is not an owner ofa print job may possibly instruct printing if the multifunctionperipheral equipment 1000 does not perform a user authentication. Forthat reason, the password entry should not be omitted even if thepassword entry omission setting is valid in an environment where themultifunction peripheral equipment 1000 is used without userauthentication.

According to the second embodiment, omission of password entry isprohibited in an environment where the multifunction peripheralequipment 1000 is used without user authentication, for example. Inother words, according to the second embodiment, omission of passwordentry is permitted in an environment where a multifunction peripheralequipment performs a user authentication. On the other hand, passwordentry is required in an environment where a multifunction peripheralequipment does not perform user authentication.

The processing of the second embodiment is same as the processing of thefirst embodiment only except for the password comparison processing inFIG. 7. The system configurations and hardware configurations of theapparatuses are same as those of the first embodiment.

FIG. 11 illustrates a flowchart for password comparison processing to beperformed on a password-protected printing job according to the secondembodiment.

The flowchart in FIG. 11 is different from the first embodiment in thatoperations in S11011 and S11013 are added to the flowchart in FIG. 7.The other operations, that is, the operations in S11001 to S11002, andS11005 to S11010 correspond to the operations in S7001 to S7002 andS7005 to S7010 on the flowchart in FIG. 7.

The second embodiment will be described below by focusing on thedifferences from the first embodiment.

Because S11001 and S11002 are similar to S7001 and S7002 in FIG. 7, thedescription will be omitted. If YES is determined in S11002, theprocessing moves to S11011 where the CPU 205 reads out a set valuestored in the SRAM 213 in S6006 and determines whether a userauthentication has been performed by the multifunction peripheralequipment 1000 or not.

If a user authentication has not been performed in S11011, theprocessing moves to S11006 where the CPU 205 displays a password entryscreen on the operating unit 210 and receives entry of a password from auser. In this manner, this embodiment may be characterized in that auser is required to enter a password if a user authentication has notbeen performed though the password entry omission setting has a validvalue.

On the other hand, if it is determine in S11011 that a userauthentication has been performed, the processing moves to S11013 wherethe CPU 205 acquires a fixed password corresponding to a user namecontained in the log-in context. The fixed password acquired here is afixed password managed for each user and is store in the HDD 208 inassociation with a user name for authentication.

In S11005, the CPU 205 compares the acquired fixed password and thepassword extracted from the print job. If they are matched, theprocessing moves to S11009 where printing the image starts. Thisembodiment may further be characterized in that a fixed password that isdifferent for each user is registered with the multifunction peripheralequipment 1000 and that a fixed password corresponding to a log-in useris acquired from a plurality of fixed passwords that have beenregistered.

The operations of the second embodiment have been described above.According to the second embodiment, if it is determined that themultifunction peripheral equipment 1000 has performed a userauthentication, a printing operation is performed by omitting a passwordentry and if it is determined that the user authentication has not beenperformed, a user is required to enter a password to implement aprinting operation. Thus, when a multifunction peripheral equipmentoperates in an environment allows a user authentication, a user may notbe required to enter a password, advantageously. When a multifunctionperipheral equipment operates in an environment where userauthentication is not available, the password entry is required tomaintain security.

According to the second embodiment, even when the password entryomission setting is valid, a user is required to enter a password if theuser has not been authenticated. This may prevent execution of apassword-protected printing job by a user who is not an owner of the jobwithout entering a password.

According to the second embodiment, a user is always required to enter apassword when the user has not been authenticated even when the passwordentry omission setting is valid. However, validating the password entryomission setting may be prohibited first in an environment where themultifunction peripheral equipment 1000 is available without a userauthentication. Whether the multifunction peripheral equipment 1000 isavailable without a user authentication or not may be determined withreference to the set value in the SRAM 213 which has been used in thedetermining processing (on whether a user authentication is to beperformed or not) in S5001. If it is determined that the multifunctionperipheral equipment 1000 is available without a user authentication,the selection of the valid button 10002 is disabled on the screen inFIG. 10.

Third Embodiment

According to the third embodiment, a password entry operation may beomitted not only in the multifunction peripheral equipment 1000 but alsoin the PC 2000 if a password entry omission setting defined in themultifunction peripheral equipment 1000 is valid and omission of entryof a fixed password is selected in the printer driver 22.

The system configurations and hardware configuration of apparatusesaccording to the third embodiment are same as those of the firstembodiment.

Processing of transmitting a password-protected printing job from the PC2000 according to the third embodiment will be described with referenceto FIG. 12.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart for describing processing of transmitting apassword-protected printing job from the PC 2000 to the multifunctionperipheral equipment 1000.

The flowchart in FIG. 12 is same as the flowchart in FIG. 2 except thatoperations in S12009, S12010, S12111, S12113, and S12114 are added tothe operations in FIG. 2 according to the first embodiment.

In other words, S12101 in FIG. 12 corresponds to S2001 in FIG. 2, andS12002 in FIG. 12 corresponds to S2002 in FIG. 2. S12103 in FIG. 12corresponds to S2003 in FIG. 2, and S12104 in FIG. 12 corresponds toS2004 in FIG. 2. S12106 in FIG. 12 corresponds to S2006 in FIG. 2, andS12107 in FIG. 12 corresponds to S2007 in FIG. 2. S12108 in FIG. 12corresponds to S2008 in FIG. 2.

Differences in the third embodiment from the first embodiment will bedescribed.

In S12009, the printer driver 22 acquires from the multifunctionperipheral equipment 1000 a password entry omission setting (see FIG.10) stored in the SRAM 213 in the multifunction peripheral equipment1000 through the PC communication unit 25. Next, the printer driver 22determines whether the acquired password entry omission setting for themultifunction peripheral equipment 1000 indicates a valid value or aninvalid value (S12010).

If it is determined in S12010 that the password entry omission settingindicates an invalid value, the printer driver 22 displays a normalprint setting screen 0301 on the PC display unit 24 (S12101). In otherwords, the print setting screen displayed here is same as those in thefirst or second embodiment.

On the other hand, if the printer driver 22 determines in S12010 thatthe acquired password entry omission setting for the multifunctionperipheral equipment 1000 indicates a valid value, the processing movesto S12111.

In S12111, the printer driver 22 displays a setting screen 1301 whichallows instructing omission of a password entry on the PC display unit24.

FIG. 13 illustrates the setting screen 1301 which allows to instructomission of a password entry displayed on the PC display unit 24 by theprinter driver 22 in S12111. The setting screen 1301 has a setting 1305for omitting a password entry not in the multifunction peripheralequipment 1000 but in the PC 2000. In other words, when a check box forthe setting 1305 is checked, the password entry is not required both inthe multifunction peripheral equipment 1000 and in PC 2000. However, thesetting 1305 may be defined only when the password entry omissionsetting is valid in the multifunction peripheral equipment 1000.

The operations in S12101, S12102, and S12104 are same as those in thefirst embodiment, the description will be omitted.

If YES is determined in S12104, the printer driver 22 acquires thesetting 1305 (S12112).

Next, in S12113, the printer driver 22 refers to the setting 1305 anddetermines whether the entry of a fixed password may be omitted or not.If the setting 1305 indicates an invalid value, it is determined thatthe password entry will not be omitted. The printer driver 22 displays ascreen as illustrated in FIG. 3B and receives a user name and a passwordto be added to the password-protected printing job (S12106).

If it is determined that the setting 1305 for omission of password entryindicates a valid value (YES in S12113), the processing moves to S12114.In S12114, the printer driver 22 generates a password-protected printingjob containing data to be printed to which a user name and a fixedpassword entry omission flag (instruction information) have been addedand transmits it to the multifunction peripheral equipment 1000. Unlikethe first embodiment, it is configured not to accept entry of a username and/or a job password. In this case, a user name preset as aninitial value in the PC 2000 is added to a print job. However, it may beconfigured to accept a user name only.

According to the second embodiment, the printer driver 22 transmits afixed password entry omission flag (instruction information) when apassword-protected printing job is transmitted to the multifunctionperipheral equipment 1000. This allows omission of a fixed passwordentry by a user not only in the multifunction peripheral equipment 1000but in the PC 2000.

Next, control over processing of receiving a password-protected printingjob to be executed by the multifunction peripheral equipment 1000according to the third embodiment will be described in detail withreference to FIG. 14.

The flowchart in FIG. 14 includes the operations in S14005 to S14007 inaddition to FIG. 4. The added operations relate to control overprocessing of receiving a password-protected printing job with a fixedpassword entry omission flag.

First, in S14001, the CPU 205 receives a print job transmitted from thePC 2000, for example, through the network interface 211 and extractprint data and print settings from the received print job. The CPU 205transfers the extracted print data to the RIP unit 218. The RIP unit 218decompresses the received print data to a bitmap image and stores it inthe HDD 208.

In S14002, if the CPU 205 determines that the received print job is apassword-protected printing job, the processing moves to S14005. If theCPU 205 determines that it is not a password-protected printing job, theprocessing moves to S14004. If it is determined in S14002 that it is nota password-protected printing job (that is, it is a normal print job),the CPU 205 in S14004 outputs the bitmap image decompressed by the RIPunit 218 to the printer 202. In response thereto, the printer 202 printsthe image on a print sheet on the basis of the received bitmap imagedata.

In S14005, the CPU 205 acquires the password entry omission setting fromthe SRAM 213 and determines whether the password entry omission settingfor the multifunction peripheral equipment 1000 is valid or not. If itis determined in S14005 that the password entry omission setting for themultifunction peripheral equipment 1000 is valid, the processing movesto S14006.

In S14006, the CPU 205 acquires the settings for the multifunctionperipheral equipment 1000 stored in the SRAM 213 and determine whetherthey are settings to be used by the multifunction peripheral equipment1000 after a user authentication or not. If YES is determined in S14006,the CPU 205 reserves the received password-protected printing job in aprint standby state (S14003) without printing it.

If the CPU 205 in S14005 determines that the password entry omissionsetting for the multifunction peripheral equipment 1000 is invalid, theacceptance of the received password-protected printing job is denied,and the job is cancelled. The failure of the print job receptionprocessing is written to the log, and the processing ends.

If NO is determined in S14006, acceptance of the receivedpassword-protected printing job is denied. The failure in the print jobreception processing is written to the log, and the processing ends.

Under the control above, acceptance of a received password-protectedprinting job is denied if the password entry omission is set invalid onthe multifunction peripheral equipment 1000. This may preventreservation of an unnecessary password-protected printing job for whichpassword entry omission is set in a multifunction peripheral equipmentwhich does not support omission of password entry.

Next, with reference to FIG. 15, there will be described control overprinting processing on a password-protected printing job to be executedby the multifunction peripheral equipment 1000 according to the thirdembodiment.

The flowchart in FIG. 15 further includes operations in S15013, S15014,and S15015 in addition to the processing in FIG. 11. The addedoperations relate to control for changing operations on a job inaccordance with a fixed password entry omission flag for apassword-protected printing job, which will be describe below in detail.

Now, a difference in the third embodiment from the second embodimentwill be described.

Because the operations in S15001, S15002, and S15011 are same as thosein S11001, S11002, and S11011 in FIG. 11, the description will beomitted.

In S15013, the CPU 205 determines whether the password-protectedprinting job instructed to print is a job from an authenticated user ornot. In other words, the CPU 205 determines YES in S15013 if a user nameof an authenticated user and a user name for a password-protectedprinting job instructed to print are matched. If not, NO is determinedin S15013. If YES is determined in S15013, the processing moves toS15014 where the CPU 205 acquires a fixed password entry omission flagfrom the password-protected printing job. If NO is determined in S15013,the processing moves to S15006.

In S15014, the CPU 205 acquires a fixed password entry flag from thepassword-protected printing job. Next, in S15015, the CPU 205 determineswhether the acquired fixed password entry omission flag for thepassword-protected printing job is valid or not. If it is determined inS15015 that the acquired fixed password entry omission flag for thepassword-protected printing job is invalid, the CPU 205 in S15003acquires a fixed password from the SRAM 213. Because the operations inS15005, S15006, S15008, and S15010 are same as those in S11005, S11006,S11008, and S11010 in FIG. 11, the description will be omitted.

If the CPU 205 in S15015 determines that the acquired fixed passwordentry omission flag for the password-protected printing job is valid(YES in S15015), the printing of the password-protected printing job isexecuted (S15009).

Under the control above, the multifunction peripheral equipment 1000 mayacquire a fixed password entry omission flag to determine whether entryof a job password may be omitted for a given print or not. This allowsexecution of a print job transmitted without entry of a fixed passwordby a user.

There have been described control to transmit a print job with a fixedpassword entry omission flag if a printer driver determines that apassword entry omission setting for a destination multifunctionperipheral equipment is valid and control over the multifunctionperipheral equipment which receives and prints it. This control allowsomission of entry of a fixed password by a user in a printer driver.

Other Embodiments

Embodiments of the present invention can also be realized by a computerof a system or apparatus that reads out and executes computer executableinstructions recorded on a storage medium (e.g., non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium) to perform the functions of one ormore of the above-described embodiments of the present invention, and bya method performed by the computer of the system or apparatus by, forexample, reading out and executing the computer executable instructionsfrom the storage medium to perform the functions of one or more of theabove-described embodiments. The computer may comprise one or more of acentral processing unit (CPU), micro processing unit (MPU), or othercircuitry, and may include a network of separate computers or separatecomputer processors. The computer executable instructions may beprovided to the computer, for example, from a network or the storagemedium. The storage medium may include, for example, one or more of ahard disk, a random-access memory (RAM), a read only memory (ROM), astorage of distributed computing systems, an optical disk (such as acompact disc CD, digital versatile disc (DVD), or Blu-ray Disc (BD)™), aflash memory device, a memory card, and the like.

While the present invention has been described with reference toexemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is notlimited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments. The scope of thefollowing claims is to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as toencompass all such modifications and equivalent structures andfunctions.

What is claimed is:
 1. An image processing apparatus which uses an imageforming unit configured to execute an image forming process, and anauthentication unit configured to authenticate a user, the imageprocessing apparatus comprising: a controlling unit having a processorwhich executes instructions stored in a memory or having circuitry, thecontrolling unit being configured: acquire password-set print data;receive a print instruction from a user authenticated by theauthentication unit, and cause the image forming unit to perform theimage forming process based on the password-set print data, associatedwith the authenticated user, without an input of a password forperforming authentication different from the authenticating the user inaccordance with the print instruction.
 2. The image processing apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein the controlling unit is capable ofreceiving setting of a mode that is among a plurality of modes includinga first mode and a second mode, wherein, in a state in which the firstmode is set to the controlling unit, the controlling unit is configuredto receive a first print instruction in accordance with identificationinformation of a user authenticated by the authentication unit, andwherein, in a state in which the second mode is set to the controllingunit, the controlling unit is configured to receive a second printinstruction.
 3. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2,wherein the first mode is a mode in which the authentication using theauthentication unit is required before a print instruction is received,and wherein the second mode is a mode in which the authentication usingthe authentication unit is not required before a print instruction isreceived.
 4. The image processing apparatus according to claim 3,wherein the second mode is a mode in which the authentication unit isnot used.
 5. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2,wherein the image processing apparatus is capable of using a displayunit configured to display information, wherein, in the first mode, thecontrolling unit causes the display unit to display a screen promptingthe first print instruction in accordance with identificationinformation of a user authenticated by the authentication unit, andwherein, in the second mode, the controlling unit causes the displayunit to display a screen prompting the second print instruction, thedisplaying not being based on the authentication unit.
 6. The imageprocessing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein print data subject tothe first print instruction is print data selected from among pieces ofprint data associated with the authenticated user, the pieces of printdata being included in pieces of print data processable by the imageprocessing apparatus.
 7. The image processing apparatus according toclaim 5, wherein print data subject to the second print instruction isprint data selected from among all the pieces of print data processableby the image processing apparatus.
 8. A method for controlling acomputer included in an image processing system as at least a part ofthe image processing system, the image processing system including animage forming unit configured to execute an image forming process, andan authentication unit configured to authenticate an operator, themethod comprising: acquiring password-set print data; receiving a printinstruction from a user authenticated by the authentication unit, andcausing the image forming unit to perform the image forming processbased on the password-set print data, associated with the authenticateduser, without an input of a password for performing authenticationdifferent from the authenticating the operator in accordance with theprint instruction.
 9. An image processing apparatus comprising: an imageforming unit configured to execute an image forming process; anauthentication unit configured to authenticate a user; a controllingunit having a processor which executes instructions stored in a memoryor having circuitry, the controlling unit being configured to: acquirepassword-set print data; in a case where the authentication unit is ON,cause the image forming unit to perform the image forming process basedon the password-set print data, associated with the authenticated user,without an input of a password for performing authentication differentfrom the authenticating the user in accordance with a print instruction;and in a case where the authentication unit is OFF, cause the imageforming unit to perform the image forming process based on thepassword-set print data with an input of the password for performingauthentication different from the authenticating the user in accordancewith a print instruction.
 10. The image processing apparatus accordingto claim 9, wherein the controlling unit is capable of receiving settingof a mode that is among a plurality of modes including a first mode anda second mode, wherein, in a state in which the first mode is set to thecontrolling unit, the controlling unit is configured to receive a firstprint instruction from a user who is authenticated, and wherein, in astate in which the second mode is set to the controlling unit, thecontrolling unit is configured to receive a second print instructionfrom a user who is not authenticated.
 11. The image processing apparatusaccording to claim 10, wherein the first mode is a mode in which theauthentication using the authentication unit is required before a printinstruction is received, and wherein the second mode is a mode in whichthe authentication using the authentication unit is not required beforea print instruction is received.
 12. The image processing apparatusaccording to claim 11, wherein the second mode is a mode in which theauthentication unit is not used.
 13. The image processing apparatusaccording to claim 10, wherein the image processing apparatus is capableof using a display unit configured to display information, wherein, inthe first mode, the controlling unit causes the display unit to displaya screen prompting the first print instruction, and wherein, in thesecond mode, the controlling unit causes the display unit to display ascreen prompting the second print instruction, the displaying not beingbased on the authentication unit.
 14. The image processing apparatusaccording to claim 13, wherein print data subject to the first printinstruction is print data selected from among pieces of print dataassociated with the authenticated user, the pieces of print data beingincluded in pieces of print data processable by the image processingapparatus.
 15. The image processing apparatus according to claim 13,wherein print data subject to the second print instruction is print dataselected from among all the pieces of print data processable by theimage processing apparatus.